Volleyball Splits Pair At Eckerd Tournament

The Northwood volleyball team went 1-1 on the opening day of the Eckerd Invitational Friday (September 7). The Timberwolves defeated Newberry 3-1 (22-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-13) before falling to Minnesota State-Moorhead 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 25-20). .

Northwood now stands at 4-2 on the season.

In the Newberry match, the Northwood offense was the key to the contest. In dropping the opening set, the Timberwolves hit .059 (7-5-34). NU then won the final three sets, hitting .353 (43-14-82). Northwood hit at least .267 (.407, .267, .400) in each of the final three sets. A pair of freshmen led the way for NU. Cassandra Marsh (Maumee, Ohio) had 13 kills on 23 swings, finishing with a .478 attack percentage and a pair of blocks. Juliia Pakhomenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) hit .500, totaling 11 kills on 18 attempts while adding nine digs.

The MSU-Moorhead match featured three very similar sets. Northwood fell behind in the middle portion of each set and was unable to come back. NU hit .181 for the match (37-18-105), compared to .259 for the Dragons (42-13-112). Marsh led the way for the Timberwolves once again, finishing with 10 kills. Pakhomenko hit .500 (9-0-18) while finishing with 12 digs. Zina Liubymova (Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine) added nine kills as well.

Northwood will face Rollins and Eckerd Saturday (September 8). Match times are set for Noon and 5 p.m., respectively.